Issue - meetings

Councillor English, the Chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, presented the Committee’s Annual Report 2023/24.  In presenting the report, Councillor English thanked the Democratic Services Team, in particular Oliviya Parfitt, Principal Democratic Services Officer, who had contributed significantly to the delivery of the Committee’s work programme so far this year.

It was moved by Councillor English, seconded by Councillor Mrs Blackmore, and

RESOLVED:  That the Annual Report of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee 2023/24 be noted.

The Chairman introduced the report and thanked the Principal Democratic Services Officer and Vice-Chairman for their work on it, commenting that the work conducted by the Committee this year had mainly focused on pre-decision scrutiny.

The Committee expressed support for the draft report attached at Appendix A. In discussing the work completed this year, reference was made to the usefulness of the Waste Crime Enforcement Review in raising awareness and knowledge of the topic and the importance of publicising successes frequently to discourage fly tipping, alongside disappointment that not all reviews had been started or completed.

It was acknowledged that a lack of external stakeholder engagement contributed to the pausing of the Water Management Cycle Review (second phase). In response, the Chairman reassured the Committee that, although complex topics like the Water Management Cycle could take a while to gather the relevant research, these had not been forgotten and would be addressed by next year’s administration.

The Committee thanked the Democratic Services team for their consistent support across the past year, particularly with their assistance in producing the draft annual report.

RESOLVED: That the report be agreed for submission to the Council.